‘The politics of things’ refers to the way in which objects and physical spaces remain crucial to political communication in a digital age as well as to the manner in which objects such as clothing and the built environment become politicized in particular contexts.

The Tanzanian Bunge was long judged one of the weakest parliaments in a region where the legislature is often dismissed as a “sideshow”. Yet between 2005 and 2015, Bunge repeatedly forced then President Jakaya Kikwete to reshuffle his cabinet following corruption probes.

The endurance and indeed the growing electoral support manifested by the Angolan opposition party UNITA since its defeat as an armed movement in 2002 defies generally gloomy prognoses both for opposition parties in dominant party systems and for defeated rebel movements that recast themselves as